People are getting the message when it comes to planning for retirement in today’s environment. According to a recent poll, 39% of workers don’t plan to retire until after age 70. We expect that number to approach 45–50% over the coming years, as workers deal with longer life expectancies and make more realistic assumptions regarding spending requirements in retirement. If everyday people can figure out that longer working careers are necessary and appropriate, why is it so hard for Congress to raise the eligibility ages for Social Security and Medicare? Like the Greeks (and the rest of the world), we can’t simply legislate pensions and benefits that aren’t sustainable. Probably the simplest, least disruptive and most sensible thing for Congress to do in order to increase retirement security is to adjust the Social Security and Medicare retirement ages—the sooner, the better.
Nov 2011